Utility customers asked to conserve electricity

Utility customers in New Jersey and the rest of the Northeast are asked to conserve electricity on Tuesday to help ease the increased demand from the expected Arctic blast.

The request to conserve, especially from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., comes from PJM Interconnection, the electricity grid operator for more than 61 million people in 13 states and the District of Columbia.

Newark-based PSE&G, the state's largest utility, is predicting it will come close to its all-time peak winter demand for electricity of 7,195 megawatts, set on Feb. 5, 2007.

Through Sunday, temperatures in the New York region had fallen into the single digits six days in January, according to Accuweather.com, which did not record a single day in the single digits by historical average.